I’m excited to share six short excerpts from my recent “Transcending Procrastination” talk at EastWest Bookstore in Mountain View, California.

The talk was about how you can use mindfulness and spiritual practices, like meditation and yoga, to stay focused and motivated in your work. The turnout was great, and EastWest is one of my favorite bookstores, so I was very pleased to do this engagement. I’ll explain what each of the excerpts is about below:

In Part 1, I explain how I got into incorporating mindfulness practices into my job, and teaching that work to others:

In Part 2, I discuss why it’s important to develop motivation and focus on the inside, in addition to having an organized workspace:

In Part 3, I discuss how we normally deal with disruptive thoughts and feelings that come up in our work — pushing them away or running from them. I offer a healthier, less stressful option: allowing those inner experiences to be, just as they are, until they pass away:

In Part 4, I talk about how mindfulness practices can help us stimulate our creativity when we’re feeling mentally blocked:

In Part 5, I explain how getting accustomed to more silence in our lives can help our concentration and productivity in our work:

In Part 6, I explain how taking a step back and looking at the bigger reason why you’re doing the task you’re working on can be a great source of motivation and focus:

In Other News: I Deleted My Last Post

For those of you who noticed the mysterious disappearance of my previous post, “A Meditation for Exercise Pain,” I deleted it because I decided, on further examination, that it did not meet the ruthless quality control standards of this site. I hope this didn’t cause too much confusion or any international incidents.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the videos and I look forward to your feedback!

When I first looked at this, I thought NO WAY would l get through six videos, but I did and loved them. You did an excellent job with this series and kept each video short enough to enjoy, while always leaving me wanting to go to the next.

Your examples were also very good, as were the suggestions. I even had my boyfriend watch the video about checking emails as this is something he deals with. I also felt good about your suggestions of turning off the car radio, etc because these are things I have already started doing. They really do help lessen my worries and anxieties.

One thing I do when I turn off the car radio is make myself pay attention to what’s going on around me (staying present). This helps because it makes my mind focus on that, rather than whether or not I’m going to late for my next meeting. GREAT SERIES…I tweeted it, by the way:~)

Thanks Sara! I’m glad the techniques have been working for you and your partner. I like the idea of paying attention to what’s going on around you while you’re driving — I know that listening to the actual sounds that are happening around me, as opposed to the music in my head, has such a calming effect.

What a neat change of pace – watching videos (instead of reading tips) with such great advice on how to overcome very common challenges using mindfulness practice. The writers block is one I resonated with.

I sat down to listen to your videos while I ate my lunch. Now I’ll probably think of you every time I eat stuffed pasta shells. Great job. My favorite part was about allowing dreadful thoughts to simply exist until they pass. That’s a lesson in acceptance worth repeating. Thanks much.

Thanks Brenda — I’m glad the videos were helpful to you. One thing I’d add is that, when I have thoughts that I don’t want to be with, a great practice for me is to focus on where I feel their impact in my body, and breathe into that place until the feeling passes, like I say about burning e-mail curiosity. I hope the impact of the videos on your future pasta-eating is positive.

Chris, you are so practical and you make so much sense, hwat you are sharing are real treasures and your email example had me laugh and pay attention.
I know that sometiems I hold my breath when I want to do things fast. I will pay more attention to that.

Hi Wilma — thanks for the appreciation — it’s always amazing to me how the way we’re breathing can shape our view of the world, and how breathing more expansively can have the world seem more welcoming.